The Watery World of the Water Element

The return to Self really is the work.

The Water around here is crisp, clear and bright. There are no complicated currents or crashing waves to foam the shore or toss the swimmer. This is water as a clear conduit, seeking to mirror the purity of the heavens while allowing for depth and reflection. 

But it isn’t always this way. 

In the ancient texts, Water is referred to as “The Abysmal”, the singular element that would travel to the core of the Earth if it could. Crashing through chasms and ravines, diving into cave systems, dripping, dark and terrifying, hidden from the sun, relentless and unstoppable in its quest. It is no wonder that the bones are ruled by this dark, secretive element, that a water personality is hard to get to know and even harder to pin down, and that everything about it is mysterious and shadowy.

It is also an essential aspect of our evolutionary work for this is where the beating heart of the Divine Feminine comes alive. While the peaking Yang energies of Summer may have us working hard, creating, and Becoming, the Polar opposite energies of Winter have us digging deep in the dark, quiet and alone.

Winter is not about our relationship with others instead, it speaks directly to the relationship with the Self. This is the cycle in which help is NOT at hand, instead, we plumb our reserves and resilience, discovering more of who we are along the way.

In Autumn we individuate, pulling back, and in Winter we crstalise that essence, drawn towards the womb of our inner Being, face to face with ourselves and everything that makes us so.  

On an individual evolutionary level if you haven’t yet individuated then Winter can be a difficult season filled with loneliness, angst and isolation. The Water Element will bring latent anxieties and fears to the surface to be faced as it in turn plummets you head-first into the dark.

I often think of Lewis Carolls Alice in Wonderland as being a wonderfully watery metaphor for the journey of winter. The rabbit hole itself suggests depth and darkness as it crosses the threshold between the worlds. Alice plumets past bookshelves and cupboards as she falls; the knowledge gained and the things stored away, before floating into a dream-like sleep where time slows and she experiences a separation from the conventional rules of the real world, entering the underworld of mysteries, riddles, enigmas … and Water.

 ”The rabbit–hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up onto her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost.”

- Alice in Wonderland. Lewis carrol

In every wintery dive, we meet ourselves, whether through seasonal observation or rabbit hole-like life circumstances. The idea of meeting one’s self is to come face to face with the depth and still clarity as balanced Water, and to have reflected back our sovereignty, our individuality and our unique perspective on the world. Even in a family where all siblings are raised with an even hand nature endows each with unique variations to ensure that our diversity continues. 

Our work in the Winter phase is to get to know this deep aspect of ourselves as best we can, to separate the rational ideal and the chaotic truth, and to walk our own path embracing this Wonderland’s chaos, even trusting it as if we were being led, and allowing curiosity and flexibility to guide us forward. The ability to trust this individual nature is the work of the winter cycle because at some point we have to stop and take stock of where we are going and why. Why are we chasing the White Rabbit? And what will we do with it once we catch it? 

We are called to examine life for its meaning, to notice the signs around us, pay attention to our dreams and our flashes of insight. To lean into the tug of the path as we discover that being led IS the Way. Do we follow the herd-like expectations around us or do we question the popular narrative and forge our own way?  

How is life speaking to you in the nuances of the journey? 

The ancient Sages schooled us to follow the Tiger, careful not to tread on its tail, focusing on our footsteps and allowing life to reveal itself differently in the unique pathway that only we walk, present to how life is guiding us. As Spring stirs quietly among the wattle it will soon be time to apply openness and all that you have learned from Winters Wonderland like introspection. The energy of Autumn’s fallen fruit and blooms did not die, instead, they transformed into seeds, and by allowing their expression in the world you too can be transformed.

The truth is revealed in every moment that unfolds before you. In life, we rarely make choices. We know what we don't want and life shows us what we can't have...all that is left is the answer.

“Who in the world am I?
Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”
- Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carrol